Special Education

One of the most relentless areas of difficulty in mathematics for children with learning disabilities (LDs) and difficulties is fractions. We report the development and initial testing of an intervention designed to increase access to and advancement in conceptual understanding. Our asset-based theory of change—a tested and confirmed learning trajectory of fraction concepts of students with LDs grounded in student-centered instruction—served as the basis for our multistage scientific design process.

Students with learning disabilities display a diverse array of factors that interplay with their mathematical understanding. Our aim in this paper is to discuss the extent to which one case study elementary school child with identified learning disabilities (LDs) made sense of composite units and unit fractions. We present analysis and results from multiple sessions conducted during a teaching experiment cast as one-on-one intervention.

Case studies from the FAACT project.

Understand students’ fraction concepts through interview tasks.  Includes tasks and guide to record student thinking.

Documenting how students with learning disabilities (LD) initially conceive of fractional quantities, and how their understandings may align with or differ from students with mathematics difficulties, is necessary to guide development of assessments and interventions that attach to unique ways of thinking or inherent difficulties these students may face understanding fraction concepts. One way to characterize such conceptions is through the creation of a framework that depicts key understandings evidenced as students work with problematic situations.

Anticipating and responding to learner variability can make using talk moves complex. The authors fuse Universal Design for Learning (UDL), differentiation, and talk moves into three key planning and pedagogy considerations.

Hunt, J. H., MacDonald, B., Lambert, R., Sugita, T., & Silva, J. (2018). Think, pair, show, share to increase classroom discourse. Teaching Children Mathematics (Focus Issue-Invited contribution), 25(2), 80-84.

In this article Jessica Hunt explores the use of clinical interviews to gain a deep understanding of students' knowledge. Examples of clinical interviews are provided and advice for planning, giving and interpreting the results of interviews is also included.

Hunt, J.H. (2015). How to better understand the diverse mathematical thinking of learners. Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, 20(2), 15-21.

Little to no information exists explaining the nature of conceptual gaps in understanding fractions for students with learning disabilities (LD); such information is vital to practitioners seeking to develop instruction or interventions. Many researchers argue such knowledge can be revealed through student’s problem-solving strategies. Despite qualitative differences in thinking and representation use in students with LD that may exist, existing frameworks of student’s strategies for solving fraction problems are not inclusive of students with LD.